Running Past Blisters

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

So I wasn't sure when I would get my runs in this week. Monday I had dinner with my aunt and uncle, Tuesday is supposed to be rainy and date night with the hubby, Wednesday it is supposed to snow and Thursday I have plans with friends. All of which meant I had zero time to go for either of my maintenance runs. But yesterday my work schedule sort of cleared up in the afternoon and I was able to escape work a half hour early. I got stuck behind a VERY slow driver so I didn't get home quite as early as I wanted to but it still gave me enough time to get ready and go. So I did a quick 2.54 mile run in 31:35.25 with an average pace of 12:25/mi.

I went out on my normal 3.1 mile course and skipped a loop. As we had to leave at 6pm for dinner and I needed time to rinse off and change before leaving. My pace was good in the beginning but my IT bands are still tight from my 8 mile run so I ended up slowing down a little at the end. But that was fine. I got a run in and we ended up being 15 minutes early for dinner. My next run won't be until Friday and then I will be doing a 3 mile Friday and a 4 mile on Saturday. But at least I will avoid the weather and still get all 3 runs in. Not too shabby.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

So Saturday I went for my 8 mile run. The hubby was still worried about his knee so he rode his bike with me to keep me company. I was really nervous. 8 miles seems SO long. And sadly it was.

The hubby planned our route so he knew where we were going and I didn't. My Garmin had been warning me that it was getting full and I forgot to get Mike to show me how to empty it. So it stopped working just before 2.5 miles. It was still recording distance and time and pace but wasn't giving me intervals anymore. Which sucked because I ran for 3 or so minutes before realizing I should have stopped a while ago. I had to figure out Mike's interval process of running for the first minute of a song and then walking the rest. That is hard. I am so spoiled with my Garmin. Then my Garmin completely froze. I lost some distance on that and then took a break long enough for Mike to clear out everything but the last month of history on it. After that things settled down a little. But my IT bands did not like the longer time of running. Eventually they loosened up some and then my hip flexors started to hurt. It really was not a fun run at all. At the end I sent the hubby home ahead of me because I thought I was going to walk the last bit. I ended up doing one more run interval before getting home but was not a happy camper.

I convinced the hubby to go get me a bag of ice from the store and took my very first ice bath. He laughed at me because I put on bathing suit bottoms, my rash guard long sleeve shirt and a warm hat. I do not like being cold and since only my legs needed the ice bath I figured I could try to keep the rest of me somewhat warm. It meant I managed to stay in the bath for the requisite 7+ minutes to get the most out of the ice. BRRRRRRR! Was that uncomfortable. But I think it helped keep me from being so sore. So I will continue to dress funny for them but I will also continue to take them.

I did approximately 8.03 miles in 1:51:18.38 with an average pace of 13:51/mi. Not too shabby with all the obstacles I had to face. Oh yeah and did I mention the hubby decided I needed to do some hill work and planned a pretty hard hill right in the middle of the run. That wasn't that fun either but I managed to run the full minute while going up it. There will be no problems for me with the hills at Disney. Not that I was worried about them in the first place. An overpass curve is nothing compared to Colorado. Hopefully my next few runs will be better and now I know to get Mike to clear off my watch (or show me how to do it) as soon as it gives me that warning. I guess 6+ months of workouts isn't too bad for storage time.

This run sucked! I got home a little late because I was chatting with one of my co-workers. So I was hungry even after eating a Mojo bar. I managed to run about 2 miles and then my stomach hurt so bad every time I ran that I had to walk the last mile. I ended up cutting through our grocery store parking lot to cut off some distance. It wasn't much but it meant I got home that much faster. The hubby tried to go for a run that day but his knee started to bother him again so he walked home. We met just outside our parking lot and limped home together. I did 3.05 miles in 44:19.56 with an average pace of 14:33/mi.

This was a great run! I did 3.11 miles in 38:07 with an average pace of 12:15/mi. I felt GREAT and ANOTHER PR! The hubby went for a walk while I ran and had a hard time. As I said I felt great. I ran well and just went with what felt good. So my run pace was a little faster than usual and as normal for a maintenance run I did 1/1:30 intervals. I felt strong at the end so I decided to do one more run interval and risk not walking my whole parking lot. My parking lot walk (at walk interval speed, not slow) has always been my cool down. It has been sacred to me. I always decide to not run one more so I don't risk running in my parking lot. But I felt so good I did it. And then I saw the hubby just entering out parking lot so I ran past my 1 minute and ran hard to catch up to him. Then we walked nice and slow for the rest of our parking lot. I felt really good.

It was a rest week on my schedule which means my long run is only 4 miles. Funny how I say only 4 miles now when I thought 4 would be hard the first time I did it. The hubby came with me again. That is the plan. My Saturday runs he comes with me and then runs double the distance on Sunday to train for the Goofy. We ended up doing 3.65 (according to my Garmin) miles in 51:54.67 with an average pace of 14:12/mi. I stopped my Garmin at one point so it lost some distance and then we took a short cut to get home faster. See below for reason.

This time it was his turn to have something hurt. The hubby's left knee started twinging and then really hurt just over 2 miles in. He decided he needed to walk to keep from really causing an injury. So we walked home at his pace. I figured at least I got the mileage in even if it wasn't a full run.

I did better this week. 2 runs instead of one. I did one maintenance run (that is how I have to think of them. Maintenance runs mean my long runs are not as hard so no skipping them). I ran 3.11 miles in 39:30.75 with an average pace of 12:41/mi. I ran harder than usual because fall has finally set in and I was cold. Bad reason to run faster. But I didn't hurt myself so that is good.

10/7 I did my 6.5 mile run. Mike had just gotten home from the Maldives after being away and 11 hours ahead in time for a month. I think that didn't help my getting out to run. I was always afraid of missing a call from him and I was depressed a lot. It helped that I got a job in the middle of August. Right before Mike left. I was out of the house most of the time and had social interaction almost every day. Anyway, back to the run.

We did 6.56 miles in 1:28:24.85 with an average pace of 13:28/mi. It was Mike's first run back at altitude and we kept it pretty easy. My long runs are still at a 1:2 ratio. Since I am increasing distance. At about mile 5.5 my hip flexors both tightened up and started to cause me pain while running. Mike was amazing and encouraged me on. The pain kept getting worse until I couldn't run anymore. We walked the last half mile because they didn't hurt as bad when I walked. So that is why my average pace was slow. It was about right until my hip flexors hurt. No big blisters though so that is good.

About Me

I am currently a 28 year old employed(!) house wife. My husband started walking and running after our wedding and honeymoon to lose weight. Sixty pounds and a couple of half marathons later I am so proud of him. I was so proud of his accomplishments it inspired me to start walking. I have never been much of a runner due to multiple medical issues. But my biggest hurdle lately has been the fact that I am incredibly prone to blisters. My goal is to run/walk the Walt Disney World half marathon next January. I have been sort of blogging about my progress since this January on Facebook and thought I would move that to here to allow me a bit more space. So this will be my journey of running past blisters.